Vocalist, songwriter, and actor, Leslie Odom, Jr. is performing this Wednesday night at The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York.
This past fall, Odom released a new album entitled “When a Crooner Dies.” The record, his 5th, features 10 original songs that were born from a time of overwhelm, fear, and ultimately growth in his life.
In September of last year, Leslie Odom Jr. starred in and co-produced the new Broadway production of the American comedy “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by the legendary Ossie Davis.” Following its successful run on Broadway, “Purlie Victorious” will be shown on PBS’s Great Performances on Friday, May 24.
The play marked Odom’s return to Broadway after departing with several other members of the original cast of “Hamilton: An American Musical” in July of 2016. For his moving, nuanced, and powerful portrayal of Aaron Burr - Odom won Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role In A Musical at the 2016 Tony Awards. He earned a Drama Desk award for the role off-Broadway at The Public the previous year. He was also catapulted, with the rest of the cast and creatives of the show, into the public eye – though he’d been working on stage and screen for years.
Film credits include "The Exorcist: Believer," "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," and "Murder on the Orient Express." He played Sam Cooke in the Amazon Original “One Night in Miami …” directed by Regina King.
On television, Leslie Odom Jr. had an arc on the second season of “Abbott Elementary,” he played Sam on “Smash,” and has appeared on “Person of Interest,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “The Good Wife,” and voiced Owen Tillerman on the Apple TV+ musical animated series “Central Park.”
He is also the best-selling author of “Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning” and the picture book “I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know” co-authored by his partner Nicolette Robinson with illustrations by Joy Hwang Ruiz.